Mark Ruffalo Admits Kieran Culkin Got Him High Onstage, Talks Mickey 17 Trump-Inspired Dictator Role

-It's always good to see you. -You too. -You look fantastic.

-Thanks. -Congrats on this movie. You're great in it.

"Mickey 17. " -Thank you. -You've been acting for a long time.

-A long time. -Yeah. Was it -- Did you start in theater?

-I did. -You did? -Yeah.

-'Cause I have a story that I want to hear if it's true or not. -Let's hear it. -Well, you you did a play once with Kieran Culkin.

-I did. -Okay. [ Laughter ] Now, is this -- -That brings back a lot of memories.

-Now, do you know the story? -A lot of memory loss. -Do you know -- Yeah.

Do you know the story I'm about to tell? -You mean when he. .

. -Yeah. -.

. . slipped a joint.

. . -Yes.

-. . .

into the prop joint? [ Audience "Oohs" ] -So this really happened? -This truly happened.

[ Laughter ] -No way. All right. Tell me about this.

-I haven't recovered. -Wait. So -- So you're opening up the play.

What play was it? -It was called "The Moment When. " It was James Lapine.

And, um, with Arija Bareikis and Kieran and Phyllis Newman, who was in her 70s, I think, at the time. -Wow. -And in the beginning of the play, the first scene, we have to pass a joint around, me and Arija and Phyllis.

-Yeah. -And, um, we're passing it around. And, you know, when you're on a stage -- in real life, you take, like, two puffs, and you're so stoned.

-Yeah. -But when you're in a play, you're just killing that thing. And it's a long scene, so.

. . -And it's fake, normally.

-It's usually fake. Not this time. [ Laughter ] -When did you realize -- Arija had never been stoned in her life.

No, I, on the other hand, smoked a lot. -Okay. All right, yeah.

-A little bit. -So, yeah, okay. -I had some experience.

-Okay. -But, um -- So we're passing it back and forth, and I'm like, "Man, I am really in the moment, man. I --" [ Laughter ] -"I've never acted --" -"I'm so in the pocket.

" -"I've never acted --" -"I'm really feeling this tonight. " [ Laughter ] And then I look down and I go -- And it doesn't stop. It just keeps going and going and going and going and going.

-Wow. -And the lights start to fade. -And I looked down, and I realized it's a real joint.

And I look at Arija, and she's just like this. [ Laughter ] -Paranoid. -Yeah.

And then, I looked backstage, and there's that little. . .

-Nice guy. -. .

. cutie. .

. -Yes. -.

. . Kieran Culkin.

. . -Yeah.

-. . .

behind the -- behind the drapery going. . .

[ Laughter ] -Oh, I love it. -Um. .

. -Did you get in trouble? Well, they wanted to close the play down.

They were literally -- like, the stage manager came running out. She's like, "We're closing the show! We're closing it!

" -Yeah. And I was like, "You can't close the show! " [ Laughter ] -"Can't close the --" -"You can't --" -"You can't close the show, man!

" -"Can't close the show. " -"What're you doin'? " -"No, he'll get in trouble.

" [ Laughter ] -That's so funny. -The best reviews I've ever had. -Is that right?

-It was amazing. -Did you really? Is that correct?

-Oh, my God, yeah. [ Cheers and applause ] -Congrats. Thank you for clearing that up.

Thank you for clearing that. -Buffalo Soldier. -Buffalo So-- Ruffalo Soldier.

Absolutely. Yeah. -That's right.

-Well, you're about to get even better reviews for this, "Mickey 17. " Congratulations on this one. -Thank you, thank you.

-This is -- You're so good. -Yeah. -Written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, who's a brilliant writer-director, did "Parasite," which is one of my favorite movies.

And it's a sci-fi film. -That's right. It's a, um -- it's about a guy who's, um, just a common man.

And, um, he -- They ask him to reprint himself to do these horrible jobs, to be killed over and over and over again. -So they're going to reprint the human over and over. -Yes.

And then they kill them, and they reprint them, and they kill them, and they reprint them. And it's a space mission, so there's all kinds of dangerous things. So they keep killing him off to further this colonizing spaceship.

And I play a petty dictator. [ Laughter ] At the time -- we shot it three years ago, and I thought, "This is over the top. " [ Laughter ] -At the time.

-At the time. And now I realize it's totally underplayed. [ Laughter, cheers, applause ] ♪♪ -That's really -- -I mean.

. . -You're like, "Wow.

" -I made a documentary. [ Laughter ] -But it's you and -- it's you and Robert Pattinson. -Yes.

-Fantastic. -Amazing. And Toni Collette, Toni Collette.

. . -Toni Collette.

-. . .

plays my wife. Toni Collette! -Yes.

[ Cheers and applause ] -But the thing about this is -- the way it works is, you can't have two of these printed humans. -Yes, that's the rule. -Only one can exist.

-You can only have one at a time. -Yes. -And, accidentally -- They think one of them's dead.

He's not, incidentally. And the two of them have got to figure out who's going to die. -Wow.

That's what I'm talking about. -Otherwise, they're gonna kill them both. -Yes, exactly, yeah.

I would say go see this in IMAX. -Oh, yeah. If you want to see my face, like.

. . [ Laughter ] -Yes.

I want to show a clip. Here's Mark Ruffalo in "Mickey 17. " Take a look at this.

-It's time we initiate Operation Total Extermination. -Honey, can I have a word with you? -Yes, my love.

-I've got an idea. -I hope you both can appreciate what a great honor my wife is bestowing on you [bleep] stains. And so I could press both buttons simultaneously?

-Yes, sir. Press them, and they'll go off at the same time. They'll also explode automatically if they exit the range of the remote control.

-You hear that? I have you by the [bleep] Don't even think of running off. -You'll each be given a primitive weapon as you head out.

You cut off as many creeper tails as you can, and the first Mickey to bring back 100 tails is the winner. And the winner doesn't die. But the loser goes.

. . oooh, boom!

-Boom! -Boom. ♪♪ -Whoo!

[ Cheers and applause ] That's how you do it. Come on. That's fantastic, Mark.

Mark Ruffalo right there. Mark, you were -- you were -- You were telling me something during the clip that there's always something that you wanted to do. -I want to crowd surf.

[ Cheers and applause ] -You want to do it? Go -- If you want to do it. .

. Are you sure? [ Cheers and applause ] Give me that -- Give me the mug.

Give me the mug. Give me the mug. Go for it.

No, give me -- give me the mug. You want to do it? -Hold my mug.

-Hold your -- yeah. Go for it, dude. [ Cheers and applause ] -All right.

Ready? Here we go. ♪♪ -Hey!

You can't do without me, dude! Here I come! ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] Oh my God.

-Whoa! Whoa! -Mark Ruffalo, everybody!

You crowd surfed! The best crowd in the world! "Mickey 17" is in theaters on March -- March 7th.

We'll be right back with Gabriel Iglesias. Stick around, everybody.